Moscow appreciates Laos’ role in Russia-ASEAN dialogue partnership

MOSCOW, June 16. /TASS/. Russia is sincerely grateful to Laos for its activities as coordinator of the Russia-ASEAN dialogue partnership, "Our contacts are regular," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday opening talks with his Laotian counterpart, Saleumxay Kommasith.

"Our contacts are regular," the Russian minister said. "Last year we meet twice - in May when the Russia-ASEAN summit was held in Sochi and then in July in Vientiane on the sidelines of the ASEAN events."

"Today we have a good opportunity to discuss the current state of our bilateral relations as a follow-up of the agreements reached by our leaders," Lavrov noted. "We are also interested in exchanging views on how relations between Russia and ASEAN evolve in line with the agreements reached at the summit in Sochi a year ago."

"I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for Laos’ active work as coordinator of the Russia-ASEAN dialogue partnership," the Russian foreign minister emphasized.